Adjustable furniture construction



April 8, 1969 J. GIAMBALVO 3,437,060

ADJUSTABLE FURNITURE CONSTRUCTION Filed July 28, 1967 INVEN Joseph Giomb mum. MW

ATTORNEY nite 3,437,060 ADJUSTABLE FURNITURE CONSTRUCTION Joseph Giamhalvo, 1118 Willoughby Ave., Brooklyn, N.Y. 11237 Filed July 28, 1967, Ser. No. 656,939 Int. Cl. A471) 57/06; F16m 13/02, 11/00 US. Cl. 108-151 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention relates generally to modular furniture and more particularly to an improved construction therefor which will enable expedient, convenient and accurate assembly of such furniture.

Whereas, sectional furniture such as bookcases, wall desks, cabinetry, shelves and the like have become popular, e.g., as room dividers and wall breakers and as support means for stereo and high fidelity components and equipment, the provision of such furniture with versatile qualities is the desideratum of the present invention.

Accordingly, the present invention is primarily directed to the provision of unique means wherewith vertical and horizontal members may be readily connected without the use of tools and in highly varied relationships.

Thus, a general object of this invention resides in the provision of simplified means permitting the do-it-yourself enthusiast with knock-down furniture components which can be readily assembled in a minimum amount of time.

Another object of the instant invention is to provide furniture components which include means enabling the convenient adjustment of the relative spacing relation therebetween.

A further object of the invention is to provide a construction of the foregoing character which includes gripping means adapted to afford accurate positioning of the structural components and to afford positive connection therebetween.

A still further object of the present invention resides in the provision of a horizontal member having an aperture or opening therein said opening being entirely spaced from the edges of said horizontal member and adapted to frictionally receive an elongate columnar member, said latter member afiording support to said horizontal member.

Another general object of the present invention is to provide a device of the foregoing character which will be simple in structure, economical of manufacture, easily and quickly assembled, aesthetic in appearance, and highly effective in use.

Other objects and advantages of the instant invention will be set forth in part hereinafter and in part will be obvious herefrom, or may be learned by practice of the invention, the same being realized and attained by means of the structure defined and pointed out in the appended claims.

The accompanying drawings referred to herein and constituting a part hereof, illustrate embodiments of the invention, and together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a vertical columnar member shown supporting a plurality of horizontal shelf members;

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view of a pair of vertical columnar members supporting a horizontal shelf member;

FIGURE 3 is a plan elevational view of a shelf member having two pairs of cylindrical vertical members received within corresponding apertures provided through said shelf member;

FIGURE 4 is a plan elevational view of the shelf construction shown in FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary side elevational view of the structure shown in FIGURE 4, the cooperative securement action between the wedge means and the horizontal and vertical members being illustrated therein;

FIGURE 6 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a modified wedge means and the coaction between a sawtoothed edge thereof and the saw-toothed groove provided longitudinally of the vertical member; and

FIGURE 7 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 77 of FIGURE 6.

The foregoing accompanying drawings illustrate shelf constructions explanatory of modular furniture constructions falling within the contemplation of the present invention, but are not, however, intended to limit this disclosure to the exemplary furniture shown in said drawings.

With reference now to FIGURE 1 of the drawings, the shelf construction therein shown will be seen to comprise a plurality of horizontal members 2, each thereof being perpendicularly connected to and supported by vertical columnar member 4. Said vertical member is provided with a groove 6 extending longitudinally thereof as shown, said vertical member being circular in cross-section.

Each said horizontal member is provided with an aperture or passage 8 extending therethrough, said passages being each spaced on all sides thereof from peripheral edge 10 of the respective shelves, each passage further having a groove 12 extending normally between the upper and lower surfaces 14 and 16, respectively, of said horizontal members.

As shown in the enlarged detailed views of FIGURES 6 and 7 of the drawings, vertical member 4 is receivable within aperture 8 whereby grooves 6 and 12 of said respective members are opposingly disposed and in longitudinal alignment.

To the end of frictionally securing said vertical and horizontal members, wedge means 18 is receivable between said opposingly disposed grooves 6 and 12. As shown in FIGURE 6, said wedge means 18 is movable upwardly into the space provided by the aligned opposingly disposed grooves. More particularly, said wedge means comprises side edges 20, 22, 24 and 26, edges 20 and 24- being perpendicularly related to edge 22, edges 20 and 26 intersecting to form an obtuse angle and edges 24 and 26 intersecting to form an acute angle as shown. Further, it will be seen that side edge 22 is receivable within groove 6 of said vertical member and side edge 26 is receivable within groove 12 of said horizontal member. Thus, it will be appreciated that the Wedge means, when positioned as shown in the drawings, will tighten against the deepest portions 28 and 30 of grooves 6 and 12, respectively.

It has been determined that the serrating or barbing of edge 22 of said wedge means as shown in FIGURES and 6, respectively, affords a highly effective grip between said wedge means and said vertical member. As shown, the deepest portion 28 of groove 6 is correspondingly serrated or barbed to enable the desired dovetail effect between the complementing serrations or barbs. The barbed configuration is otherwise referred to herein as a saw-tooth configuration and the serrated arrangement as intermittently arranged raised regions, said arrangements and the like being generically defined as gripping means.

In general, the adjustable furniture construction is characterized by a vertically extending columnar support member 4 having a generally uniform outer peripheral cross-section which may be either circular as shown in FIGS. 1, 3 and 7, are rectangular as shown in FIGS. 2 and 4. The support member 4 defines a longitudinal vertical groove 6 extending from the outer periphery of the columnar support 4 toward the interior of such columnar support, the groove 6 having uniform vertical side walls and inner wall which is provided with a plurality of gripping protrusions as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 which extend outwardly from the deepest portion 28 of the groove inner wall. In general, the wedge 18 is partially and adjustably disposed within the vertical groove 6, and has side walls which are complementary to such vertical groove side walls. The wedge 18 also has an inner wall having gripping extensions which are complementary to the vertical groove gripping partitions, and as seen in FIGS. 5 and 6 such gripping extensions interlock with the gripping protrusions to maintain the wedge 18 at a given vertical position along the columnar support 4. The wedge also has a vertically inclined wall 26 which projects outwardly from the vertical groove 6 and slopes to provide the wedge with a minimum width at its top and a maximum width at its bottom as clearly shown in FIGS. 5 and 6. The horizontal table-like member 2 is thereby supported on the inclined wall of the wedge 18. The columnar support 4 passes through a passage in the horizontal member 2, which passage is complementary in shape to the column 4 everywhere except adjacent the groove 6. The passage through the table 2 is provided with a tapered groove which is complementary to and which receives the vertically inclined wall of the Wedge 18 in complementary relationship thereto as best shown in FIGS. 5 and 6.

Although the horizontal members are designated by numeral 2 throughout the drawings, it will be appreciated that said members may vary in shape and the numbers of vertical columnar members as well may similarly be varied. Further, said vertical members may be circular in cross-section as shown, e.g., in FIGURE 3 or they may be rectangular in cross-section as shown e.g., in FIGURE 4. Other configurations as well may be utilized.

Although specific embodiments of the adjustable furniture construction have been described, it will be understood that within the purview of this invention various changes may be made in the forms, details, proportion, thickness, shapes and materials of which the parts are formed, the arrangement and combination thereof and their mode of operation. To these ends, it will be appreciated that the aforedescribed wedge means, e.g., can be pivotally pinned at groove 12 whereby a swinging rather than a sliding movement of the wedge 18 into operative position between grooves 6 and 12 will accomplish securement of the horizontal and vertical members. Such pivotal arrangement of the wedge means would render the latter permanently aflixed to said horizontal members in the regions of the grooves thereof, for movement between operative and inoperative positions. Further, said pivotal wedge means may be provided with a serrated, saw-toothed, etc. gripping edge as shown with respect to the herein illustrated embodiments, and may in addition be utilized in connection with the modular furniture construction disclosed in my copending application Ser. No. 503,169, filed Oct. 23, 1965, now Patent No. 3,343,685.

The invention generally stated, consists in a device capable of carrying out the objects set forth, as disclosed and defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. An adjustable furniture construction comprising:

a vertically extending columnar support member having a generally uniform outer peripheral cross-section along its length, said support member defining a longitudinal vertical groove extending from the outer periphery of said support member toward the interior thereof, said groove having uniform vertical side walls and an inner wall provided with a plurality of gripping protrusions extending outwardly from said inner Wall;

a wedge partially and adjustably disposed within the vertical groove of said columnar support member, said wedge having side walls complementary to said vertical groove side walls and a wedge inner wall having gripping extensions complementary to said vertical groove gripping protrusions, said gripping protrusions and said gripping extensions interlocking to maintain said wedge at a given vertical position along said columnar support, said wedge having a vertically inclined wall projecting outwardly from said vertical groove and sloping to provide a minimum width at the top of said wedge and a maximum width at the bottom of said wedge; and

a horizontal table-like member supported on said inclined wall of said wedge, said horizontal member having upper and lower surfaces and a peripheral edge defining the extremities thereof and a passage extending between said upper and lower surfaces, said passage being spaced on all sides thereof from said peripheral edge and being complementary about most of its surface to the uniform outer periphery of said vertical columnar support which passes theret-hrough, said passage having a tapered groove extending between said upper and lower surfaces of said horizontal member, said tapered groove receiving said vertically inclined wall of said wedge in complementary relationship thereto.

2. A construction as set forth in claim 1 wherein said vertical member is circular in cross-section.

3. A construction as set forth in claim 1 wherein said vertical member is rectangular in cross-section.

4. A construction as set forth in claim l1 wherein said wedge means includes first, second, third and fourth side edges, said first and third edges being perpendicularly related to said second side edge and forming obtuse and acute angles, respectively, with said fourth side edge.

5. A construction as set forth in claim 4 wherein said second and fourth side edges are receivable within the grooves of said vertical and horizontal members, respeo tively.

6. A construction as set forth in claim 1 wherein the groove of said vertical member is provided with gripping means disposed along the deepest portion thereof.

7. A construction as set forth in claim 6 wherein said gripping means comprises a plurality of intermittently arranged raised regions, said wedge means having a similar plurality of intermittently arranged raised regions along an edge thereof adapted to dovetail with said gripping means of said vertical member.

8. A construction as set forth in claim 1 wherein said gripping extensions and protrusions are of saw-tooth configuration.

-9. A construction as set forth in claim 1 wherein said vertical member comprises an elongate column and said horizontal member a flat table-like platform.

10. A construction as set forth in claim 9 :wherein said within said passages.

5 6 horizontal member includes a plurality of passages and 775,496 11/ 1904 Parsons 108106 a plurality of vertical members respectively receivable 1,529,759 3/1925 Widder Z872U.927

FOREIGN PATENTS References Cited 5 355,329 11/1921 Germany. UNITED STATES PATENTS JAMES T. McCALL, Primary Examiner.

4/ 1883 Drake 108l06 12/1884 Roberts 1081O6 US. Cl. X.R.

7/1895 Feely 248412 1/1900 Sin 287 20.927 10 211 248 412 

